‘You’re in or You’re out:’ Ethos of Change in the Lives of De-radicalized Youth in the Kenyan Urban Margins

Abstract

Abstract Notoriously placed, ghettos and slums are perceived as locations for violence, drug abuse, violent gang operations, and other vices. In Kenya, the origin of violent radicalization and extremism has centered on urban margins, some of which are characterized as ghettos or slums due to the complex dynamics of communal interactions and spatial settings. This study draws on ethnographic data to analyze the lives of youth in two urban margins of Kenya whose lived realities were tied to their radicalization, deradicalization, engagement, and disengagement in violent extremism for the Al-Shabaab network. Using empirical data, the article probes the central research question: How do youth make meanings of violent radicalization, de-radicalization, engagement, and disengagement from their lived realities of these urban margins? A critical empirical assessment of this new ethos of change as a result of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) and development actors’ work in these urban margins reveals a continuum of mixed reactions from ‘feeling good’ to ‘feeling worse’ as young people grapple with new identities, new stigmas, and new realities in reintegrating back into their communities.